I'm one of the many users also going through this fast battery drain ordeal. I have a 32GB iPhone 5 with iOS 6.0.2. I've tried just about everything at this point. I've even tried restoring it as a new phone and manually reconfiguring all of my settings, believing this resolved the issue. To my dismay however I noticed the fast battery drain once again a week later. One interesting thing that I've noticed is that whenever I turn Cellular Data off (Settings > General > Cellular), my battery performs perfectly normal! And this is still with Wifi enabled and connected to a Wifi network. So this sort of eliminates hardware, apps, and mail as the cause since they still work fine when I'm connected to only Wifi, which is pretty much 90% of my day. I have no clue what the cause of this issue is, but I would've assumed that Apple would've had a fix for this by now.

For those who haven't been alerted yet, iOS 6.1 was just released today. I've updated my iPhone 5 and am trying it out now. Will let you know if any changes occur. I'd suggest everyone else who is having issues try the upgrade.

I also thought about positive changes, when my phone showed 100% after and hour away from charger. But then in a 30 minutes it dropped to 97%/ And after I made a 10 minutes call (in 2G network) it dropped to 89%. So it's almost 2 hours after it was unplugged from charger and only one call was made and tweetbot opened. Now it shows 87%. So I don't see any fixes here. And yesterday I already installed 6.1 firmware through restore in iTunes. Also phone gets very hot when using any apps or just talking. It wasn't in iOS 6.0.1. Looks like they did something with radio firmware in iOS 6.0.2 and keeped that in 6.1 later betas, because earlier betas (1 and 2) had no battery problems, like 6.0.1

I don't see any major difference. Less than 2 hours of usage and battery has already hit 75% mark.

I am on 3G completely. battery was at 100% for 30 minutes - but once it dropped down to 99, there was no looking back. 24% down for the next 1.15 hours of usage. Extrapolating it will reach to about 6 at the end of the day.

The usage is minimal. No video streaming, no audio streaming, no gaming, no push email ( switched that off mid way). Just browsing mobile optimized websites every 20-30 minutes for 1-3 minutes.

So far not so good. Started today (about 5:45am) with 100%, glanced at 2 emails then went to work and didn't use it the whole time here, then went to break just now at 10am and had 97%. Watched a 1:30mins video on youtube and was down to 95%. Spent the rest of my 15min break just reading articles on my IGN app (no videos, just load text and reading it) I finished break at 90%. So it went down 7% in 15mins of usage! By my calculations with that kind of drain I'm on track to get 3.5hrs of usage, but we'll see. I still don't understand why loading text drains it so much, video I could sort of understand, but text?

I'll hold off on my final judgement for a day or two. I'm going to run it down to 0% tonight and let it sit for an hour or too dead, then fully charge it, as that "resets" or "re-trains" the battery Apple tech told me.

I have bluetooth off and siri off as I never use them, I have most location services off, I had no other apps open, and I have email set to fetch hourly.

Oh a side note, if any of you use the OkCupid dating app, check your Location Services, this sucker is using the GPS even if the app is closed! I noticed my Location Services icon was on, but I had no apps open, so I looked in Location Services under the Settings and the only purple arrow (meaning it's actively using LS) was this app, and it was closed.....even from the multi-tasking menu. I disabled that a few months ago and it made a slight improvement in my battery life.

I think you are on the right track letting your phone go dead, and making it sit for a while. Because mine had that same usage pattern, with almost all the same settings turned off. Plus the battery would drain in standby significantly. I drained it until it was dead, let it sit for 10 minutes, plugged it back in and went to sleep, woke up, and took it off the charger. On my way to work I listened to about 12 minutes of pandora in the car, answered a 3min phone call, and when I got to work the battery was still at 100%. I was shocked. Dramatic improvement. Usaully that routine would drain it to 96%. My battery started draining 10% by the hour instead of 15%. Now since the 6.1 update, my battery drains 8% by the hour, which is great. Plus I got 2 days 4 hours standy, and 6 hours 15 min usage out of it until I decided to put it back on the charger at 20%. Major improvement. I would say my battery is back to normal..for now. When you charge your phone after you let it go dead, keep it on the charger 30 mins after its fully charged. It just makes sure you get a full charge after cycling. Something Apple techs advised me to do. The more you condition your battery, the more it starts to operate at its capacity.

Not at all. I went to sleep at 10 last night after updating iOS, battery was 85%. this morning at 7:10, I tried to use my iphone and found the battery was already dead (only 2 apps running background).

Funny thing is yesterday I drove 70km double trip to an apple store to have my iphone checked. the guy from their Genius Bar only spent 3 mins to "fix" my iphone 5 by turning the bluetooth and location service off. I argued with him for 5 mins, and in the total 8 mins, battery dropped 4%. He said the reason was we were using the phone. for me, I think his theroy was if I didn't use the iphone, and turned all functions off, its battery will last longer. He treated me like an idiot.

anyway, I'll talk to the genius again to see what else they can do for me

Honestly to everyone I'd say give it a few days, especially if you haven't charged it since you updated, and if you have I'd still say run it to 0%, leave it off for an hour, then charge it to full.

My post up a few on this page, when I first tried it was not promising, went from 97% to 90% over my 15min break. At that rate I was on track for 3.5hrs of usage total! BUT, I actually ended up getting 7.5hrs that day (7.5hrs at 1%), BY FAR the most I have EVER got! Before I never got to 6hrs, on average it was right around 5hrs, usually high 4hrs.

I ran it down to 0% last night, left it off for 2hrs, then charged it to full while I slept. To my surprise I had just under 60% when I left work today, which I usually have about 20%! Right now I'm at 50% with a little over 3hrs of usage, so on track for 6hrs total, which if its just that, it's a big improvement over what it was before.

I'm not ready to call it just yet, but so far, for me, I has been much better. I'm going to keep an eye on it for the next week or so though.

And if this is the fix, I am grateful, but still EXTREMELY ticked they never publicly acknowledge this problem and just secretly fixed while keeping all of us in the dark. But I guess that might have slowed phone sales, so I guess that is more important than retaining current customers.

I am currently on my 3rd iPhone 5. I cannot express my level of frustration right now. I have done every trick in the book found on Apple communities, on random blogs, and after about 3-4 trips to the Genius bar and multiple calls to customer service. I updated to 6.1 and still no difference. My battery cannot last the course of the day at work. The techs and Genius bar folks act as if I am the only person on planet Earth with this problem and it really ****** me off. They make it sound as if it's just a simple fix (just reset settings, just activate as a new phone and not back it up from iTunes, just turn this function off, etc. etc.). I have heard it all and am just fed up.

I wish my wife did not get me this phone for X-mas and I still had my 4S. I cannot believe Apple is acting as if nothing is wrong. I was flabergasted when the rep at Apple acted as if he had never heard of any battery life issues with the 5. I told the Genius bar guy as he took my 3rd phone out of the box that it will not work properly and will die just like my 2nd iPhone 5 out of the box. Sure enough that was the case.

Anyway, this is my first post and feel like I need to just vent. I have no fixes and no solutions. I just know my battery life *****. It cannot last a whole night when going to bed at 100% (it is dead by the time I wake up, unless it's plugged up).

I am on my 2nd iPhone 5. Just got off the phone with Apple Support and have case number to go get myself a new phone (which will be my 3rd).

My current phone (2nd phone, replacing phone #1 that had horrible battery life) after a promising start (see earlier post) started showing the same issues other have posted, to wit:

- Usage 4h, 28m -- Battery 8%. Again, 90% drain in 4 1/2h

iOS 6.1 came out just as I was ready to throw in the towel. Upgraded phone #2 to iOS 6.1 holding great expectations and the first thing I noticed is that Battery Doctor said that the memory usage was a 55% (rather than the 95% constantly showing before the upgrade). Great!, I thought; Apple found a solution to the problem and fixed whatever bug was sucking the life out of the phone and the battery.

But it was not to be the case.

On 28 January the battery drained as follows (I have all the screenshots) (note - usage = sitting on my desk, sending some text messages, reading emails as they come in - shocking!):

- Usage: 1h 00m -- Battery 85%

- Usage: 2h 30m -- Battery 55%

- Usage: 3h 00m -- Battery 39%

- Usage: 3h 11m -- Battery 35%

- Usage: 3h 19m -- Battery 31%

- Usage: 3h 31m -- Battery 27%

- Usage: 3h 35m -- Battery 25%

I am fed up!; I go onto apple.com, support, choose "battery" as the issue, accept the incoming text message, upload the diagnostics using the link, get my case # and wait for the call from the representative.

In the meanwhile...

- Usage: 3h 45m -- Battery 20%

The representative calls; she's very nice. She seems to know exactly what's going on. I tell her the drainage issues described above and, without wasting a second, she tells me to go to an Apple store and get a new phone.

While I am on the phone with the Apple representative, I read to her the drop in percentage LIVE!

- Usage: 3h 50m -- Battery 19% (Call duration 0:51)

- Usage: 3h 52m -- Battery 18% (Call duration 2:41)

- Usage: 3h 53m -- Battery 17% (Call duration 3:26)

- Usage: 3h 56m -- Battery 15% (Call duration 7:06)

She apologized and insisted to go get a new phone.

So, I am on my way to get iPhone 5 #3. We'll see

NOTE - I hope everyone reading this realizes that if we were getting this level of performance from a computer, a TV, a hotel, a restaurant, it would be all over the news. There would be articles everywhere. No one, and I mean no one, would go through all this pain and testing and screenshots and forums for a Microsoft product. It's just too much of a waste of time for a phone that is supposed to be a phone - just work and have the performance as advertised, not die after 4h of usage.

Will keep you posted.

P.S. I would suggest, to avoid wasting time at the Genius Bar, to do the online status uploading tool + call; faster and easier and in the comfort of your own living room. Tell them you've tried all the tricks posted everywhere (if, like me, you've done so). And take screenshots - it's not what you know, it's what you can prove.

Apparently the problem is with the iOS and nothing to do with the iPhone 5, iPhone 5 is using the same battery technology used in iPhone 4s, however people when they upgraded to iOs 6 and upwards releases many problems appear, like battery heat, and buttery drains faster than usual. a lady in New York has ended up with a burnet iPhone this week check out. At the moment there is no much to do n my opinion apart from optimizing the Apps and system usage of your device, people already mention many great advices and good information about the iPhone 5 battery can be also found here http://www.iphoneproguide.com/iphone-5-battery-review/

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